China yesterday called for "continuity and stability" in the Maldives after Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, the leader of an opposition that has vowed to review Chinese projects, defeated incumbent president Abdulla Yameen in a weekend election.

Veteran Maldives lawmaker Ibrahim Mohamed Solih overcame the detention and exile of key opposition figures to win a weekend presidential poll and unseat incumbent Abdulla Yameen, but now faces the task of holding together a disparate coalition.

Myanmar's powerful army chief says the United Nations has no right to interfere in his country's sovereignty, a week after UN investigators called for him and other top generals to be prosecuted for "genocide" against the Rohingya.

Nepal has reinstated a deal with a Chinese state-owned company to build a $2.5 billion hydroelectric plant scrapped by the previous government, officials confirmed yesterday, as the new pro-Beijing administration seeks massive infrastructure investment.

Doctors at the Osmania General Hospital in Hyderabad of India hold a protest trying to draw attention towards the dilapidated condition of the biggest government hospital in Telangana.

Seven Pakistani soldiers were killed in an exchange of fire with militants in the country's northwest near the Afghan border on Saturday, the military said. The militants had infiltrated from across the Afghan border, and an officer was among the Pakistani soldiers killed. Nine militants were also killed.

Maoist rebels were yesterday accused of assassinating a south Indian lawmaker and another former legislator in a brazen daytime ambush on their vehicle, police and media reports said.

India yesterday launched the world's biggest health insurance scheme which Prime Minister Narendra Modi said would cover some 500 million poor people. The programme, dubbed "Modicare", promises health cover worth 500,000 rupees ($6,900) to every poor family to treat serious ailments.

The Maldives presidential election will not be free and fair because President Abdulla Yameen has used draconian laws to crackdown on rivals, a foreign monitoring group said on the eve of voting.

More than a quarter of a million people will vote on Sunday for the next leader of the small Indian Ocean nation of the Maldives in an

India yesterday prescribed arrests and jail terms for offenders in a campaign to stamp out instant Muslim divorce, or "triple talaq", as Prime Minister Narendra Modi looks to woo women voters of the South Asian nation's minority community.

Ousted Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Mohammad Safdar, were released from Adiala jail yesterday after a court suspended their respective prison sentences for corruption pending an appeal hearing.

India's Supreme Court yesterday ordered resumption of filing of claims and objections by around 40 lakh people who were left out in the draft National Register of Citizens (NRC) of Assam.

A figurative bronze sculpture of Myanmar's State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi will be put up for sale by auction in order to raise money for charity, said Dr Thant Thaw Kaung, executive committee member of the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation.

The Election Commission of India has told the Supreme Court that its Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) could not be tampered with and that it is taking all measures to ensure that these machines are safely transported.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said she looks forward to continued support from India for the development of Bangladesh.

Three infants die every two minutes on an average in India due to lack of access to water, sanitation, proper nutrition or basic health services, according to a report by the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation.

Curious whistles and chirrups echo through the jungle around Kongthong, a remote Indian village, but this is no birdsong. It's people calling out to each other in music -- an extraordinary tradition that may even be unique.

India will launch a digital smart fencing project along Assam state's border with Bangladesh in November, Home Minister Rajnath Singh has said.

Sri Lanka's president yesterday justified his decision to sack six diplomats -- including an ambassador -- for not answering his phone calls, saying more would follow if the foreign service did not shape up.